France’s ARCOM consults on launching UHD TV on digital-terrestrial

French media regulator ARCOM has launched a public consultation to determine the extent to which 4K ultra UHD TV services can be distributed via the country’s digital-terrestrial network.

The French government has tasked the watchdog with granting pubcaster France Télévisions the right to use frequencies to distribute UHD version of its France 2 and France 3 channels over a large part of metropolitan France and nine overseas territories from next year. ARCOM says that other broadcasters have also shown interest in distributing UHD services.

ARCOM says that to meet these requirements, a multiplex would have to be dedicated to UHD using new formats. The consultation is intended to determine the capacity of the prospective UHD multiplex and the number of services it could house.

ARCOM says that a UHD mux would need to utilise DVB-T2 modulation in combination with HEVC video compression. Such a mux would be able to house either three UHD channels, two UHD and two HD-HDR channels, or one UHD and four HD-HDR channels, it said.

Respondents have until September 13 to make submissions.